Session 22: Menstrels, Purple Worms and Illithids! Oh My!

WE begin on a raised platform under ground. We walk down a staircase that was hidden before. As we get to the bottom, Quill's eyes go white and Leland tells us that she is connecting to Tempest's mind.
 
From Tempest's POV, he wakes u and sees Xantoine. There is fields and fields of nothing where they are at. The sky looks dark, but there is a small sliver of bright silver light that lights everything up with a silver glow.
 
Xantoine and Tempest converse about where they might be, and how they got there. Xantoine takes Tempest to a rock and tells him to listen. In the rock Xantoine can hear the chants of orcs and he can see his son, and he gets the sensation that he IS the axe. He believes they are trapped in the axe, that their souls have been stolen. He tells Tempest go ahead and try it and see what he sees and hears.
 
When Tempest listens to the rock, he doesn't quite hear as much or see anything. Xantone thinks that if he and Tempest work together, they might be able to control the axe. In despite Tempest not liking Xantonie, they do agree to work together.
 
They detail a plan, and this is when Quill wakes back up.
 
Leland talks to Quill about what she saw, and she tells him that Tempest and Xantoine are making a plan together to try and escape the axe.
 
WE decide to try and investigate some the area around us, but we notice that the city does continue to go under the water.
 
Leland is able ot detect that a lot of the architecture isn't something he's seen before. He knows it's not dwarven, because it's falling a part. There is rumbling that shakes everything a bit. Stephan was able to detect that this was a moving thing that started from our left and then to our right. It is localized, but moving whatever it is.
 
We come across a huge building made entirely of ivory. Leland is intreged by this, because the whole building seems to be one solid piece. There are no seams in the building anywhere.
 
This structure is in pristine condition. There is an open doorway that is about 10ft wide. Inside it is huge and open. There are little buildings or rooms built throughout the inside of it. In the center is a carved circle in the stone. There is ancient sylvan and elvish writings here. We get the gist of it as "Door". There also runes placed about.
 
Lufere sees a round silver orb above our head that looks rigged to fall right where we are standing.
 
We determine that this circle likely opens up somehow to a room underneath. Leland is able to determine the order to interact with the runes to open the door. Because of the scary orb above this circle. Lufere summons 8 baboons to push the runes to keep everyone far enough way to be safe.
 
Before we move forward with that, Qull starts to use mold earth very slowly, BUT when she does this, there are creaks from above.
 
We move forward with the baboons. As they open up the floor the floor starts to form into a staircase.
 
Lufere sends the baboons down and they find someone. As soon as they hear us this person says they mean us no harm and they ask us for help.
 
It's a young human bard named Edward. He had come here with a group of minstrals. He tells us that they were attacked by a large purple creature that swallowed them whole. He's the only survivor. They were here to try and find old sheet music. We ask if he found the library and he says that he found it as he looks slightly troubled and he rubs the back of his head. Lyra looks at the back of his head, and there is a metal hole in the back of his head.
 
It goes through the base of his skull and to his brain. YOu can actually see the brain in side it.
 
He says there is a facility that requires this to get into the library.
 
He tells us his friend Claire went through the same thing, but she was killed by the worm.
 
They were only attacked when the party members were split up and alone.
 
There is also a telepod mechanism that in order to operate it, you would need a person in a different place.
 
He offers to take us to the library if we help him gather more books, because he couldn't carry anymore.
 
He says there are also creatures that he never saw, but what ever they were made a loud screeching sound.
 
Lufere sent his baboons all off in different directions, and after about 2 minutes, one was attacked and killed.
 
We decide to set up a trap to lure the worm to us and then we ambush it. Stephan volunteers to be bait. It works and the purple worm is lured to us. The plan is to trigger the sphere to drop down on the worm to kill it.
 
This plan works. As the worm is in pursuit of Stephan, the sphere drops decapitating the worm, and it dies. The acid around the worm causes it to start sinking. This does block our way back down.
 
We want to gather poison from the stinger, but it's trapped under the sphere.
 
Leland decides to build a bag out of the flesh of the worm to try and hold the acid. We use magehand to cut off a square of the hide. We clean it off and dry it out. Leland turns it into a bag and is able to get 8oz of Acid.
 
Lyra decides to scry Claire for Edward, and she actually finds her. Shes in a room full of other people just standing. Her eyes are glazed over and they look worn and mal nourished. The walls in the room are covered by a fleshy substance that moves and pulsates.
 
We use fuzball to fly us down where the staircase used to be. As we flew down, we saw signs of machinery and mechanical things.
 
Whoever lived down here, their job was to use the wheels and mechanical devices to power things. We continue travelling down to deeper levels. The deeper we get the less and less it looks like it's part of the city above that we have seen.
 
This place was hidden in a way so that anyone that lived here weren't aware that anyone that lived above them. They were working power things, but had no idea they were powering things for other people.
 
As we are travelling down, Edward tells us that this seems to be the way to the library. His journey was much different and less direct.
 
The walls down here are made of flesh. There is a pulsating brain on the wall. WE hear a voice in our head saying "Please proceed forward and take the left door" We hear rumbling coming from above.
 
We realize we are in an illithid laire. Edward seems to be leading us through. He wants to show us the chairs that were used to put the hole in his head. There were brains in the walls that lead Edward to these before and that's why they had holes drilled in their heads.
 
Lyra describes to Lufere what a mindflayer looks like, and Lufere with a crit fail and Lyra's description disguise selfs himself into a "mindflayer" (a giant squid with plate armor on his head). hahahaha
 
Faenore decide to cast zone of truth on the first wall brain that was giving us instructions. As we walk into that room. We feel rumbling beneath our feet. As if there are multiple purple worms beneath us.
 
We zone of truth the guy and ask it some questions. WE learn the chairs are to make humanoids compatible with the infrustructure. We find out that Edward aka 317 as the brain labels him, has not yet received "treatment" to be controlled by a mindflayer.
 
He is disconnected from Nerve Cluster 3, and cannot give us information about it.
 
WE are in a room that contains nerve cluster one.
 
We learn that 317 humanoids have used the chairs here. That would make Edward the last one most likely. The brain says most of these humanoids leave the facility.
 
We learn the function of assimilated humanoids here are to maintain the facility. It's a system that needs nourishment, maintenance and care. The assimilated would take care of this.
 
The assimilated who have reached the library are allowed to leave. Because they meet "The One"
 
We learned the group that came with Edward didn't make it to the library due a to a foreign entity. (we assume the purple worm) Nerve Section 6 has more information about this. To get to 6 we would need to go to the door to the right and use Nerve Cluster 5 to coordinate the telepod.
 
we get directions to et to the library by skipping areas. we find the room of glassy eyed people and none of them have holes in their skulls
 
Lufere goes to the next room ahead very confidently. We hear a loud rumbling noise in the room and then we don't hear Lufere anymore. We rush into investigate. We find that there is a hole that can open up in the ceiling and we think this is where he went. Lyra stabs it with her sword and as it opens back up a bit, Stefan misty steps and then disappears (i'd like to note that both Lufere and Stefan failed saving throws when this happened.)
 
Edward says he thinks he know where they went. He believes they may be being assimilated. He goes to the teleporter and finds that there are disconnected tentacles and he thinks if he connects one to one of the open slots, it will connect to the next nerve place. I"m not sure.
 
Quill and FAenore figure out that it's the first hole to put the tentacle in and Faenore volunteers to be teleported first. As we watch Faenore being "teleported", we just see him explode and blood fill up. A cone comes down and cleans everything up. Lyra loses her shit. The bracer she is wearing turns to confetti and then reassembles on her arm. She makes a note asking if Faenore is ok. He responds that he is. ok and that everything is clear where he is at.
 
He does see Stefan and Lufere inside pods, unconscious. The pods are unguilting. Each pod has a control panel with 3 buttons on them. Red, Green, Blue
 
He also sees 3 other minstrels in pods. We can't figure out what to do. Hazel tests the buttons on the 3 minstrels. The red one is death. The green assimilates, and blue releases them. We release one of the minstrels, Stefan and Lefure. The last thing any of them remember is being grappled by tentacles.
 
 
When we try to teleport to node 6 to get to the node 5 it fails, because it is not connected. WE have to go through nerve cluster 4 to reconnect? I don't know.
 
Anyway, when we get there we have to fight some intellect devours and a mind flayer. WE then get to an ELDER BRAIN who says it needs help from "The One"
 
IT says if we help it, it can either send us to Heaven or send us to the library.
 
In despite Lyra's requests to not help this thing, Lufere and Leland free it from the tentacle disconnecting it??? I'm not really sure. It says it's going to give us a reward if we defeat "The One"
 
We end up getting to nerve place 5.
 
This will take us to the library supposedly and then to "The One"
 
WE actually do find a library here....much to Lyra's surprise. . WE have to descend into a pit to get to it.
 
As we get down there, We see tentacles come through a book shelf at us, and a giant worm type creature comes out at us.
 
As we stand wondering WTF....we end....Until next week.